Secret Santa
by xxivxo
Summary: Happy Holidays! With her personality, everyone knows that Lightning hates the Christmas season. But will a certain gift change that? FangxLightning


Yeah so I decided to just randomly write a story since I saw a contest being held on the Lightning loves Fang group on deviantart. The idea might not be the best since I honestly just typed this up without any particular plot in mind. Either way, I hope you enjoy the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own FFXIII or any of the characters. I only own this work of fiction.

_**S e c r e t * S a n t a**_

Why was she here again?

It was always something she hated beyond anything else. Even more than Snow singing in the shower. The cheeriness, the bright colors, the insanely annoying music that seemed to loop her into her own personal demise wherever she went. It was clear that Lightning hated Christmas.

She was much more satisfied lying in her bed with her black curtains closed. This was to ensure that the red and green lights paving outside would not disturb her attempt of hiding from an impending doom. Sadly enough, the knocking on her door began the horror of that evening.

"Claire! Everyone's almost here!"

Lightning simply tugged the covers over her head without a word being said.

"I know you're awake! Come on it's only for a few hours!"

She then pushed the pillow against her head to bury her face further into the mattress.

"If you don't come out, I'll leave the radio right outside your door with your favorite song playing!"

Strawberry-blonde hair shifted around just before the woman growled lowly. With very little enthusiasm, she managed to get out of bed and shuffle towards the door. Upon opening it, her younger sister was standing before her dressed in her 'cute' _(not slutty)_ Santa's helper outfit. Apparently Snow had picked it out. If she had been there, she would've punched him then made her sister wear something resembling Santa's present bag instead.

"Aha I knew that would get you up! Come on now, get dressed and get to the living room pronto. Dinner will be ready soon."

A scowl appeared on her features as the younger woman turned to head back down the hallway. As the bells jingled along her upper thighs, she stated one more minor detail that made Lightning cringe.

"Don't forget to wear the red sweater I laid out for you!"

**x**

"Merry Christmas!"

Vanille ran past Fang and stampeded across the room towards Serah just as the two women entered a fit of giggles.

"Seraaaaah!"

As the two embraced in a tight hug, they both looked down to see they were wearing the same outfit. More giggles erupted from this and Fang sighed. The brunette shed her scarf which was slightly wet from the snow outside and hung it alongside her coat on the rack nearby. Shaking off the last bit of snow from her hair, she glanced around the room. A blushing Hope stood near the tree and Snow. Both seemed to be preoccupied watching the two women in their attire.

Sazh was moving around in the kitchen, an apron clearly adorned over 3/4ths of his body. His son sat at a stool near the bar, watching him intently and very curiously. A low chuckle came from the woman as she rolled up the sleeves of her light blue sweater a bit. The fire was certainly warming up the room enough.

"Oh you know she hates this kind of stuff."

Fang overheard the younger Farron's remark. It peaked her curiosity so she wandered over to the two women as they gossiped some. Standing near them, she listened in still while waving over at Hope and Snow. It took them a few seconds to register they were being waved at, but they quickly snapped out of their trances long enough to give a half-ass wave back.

_"Men."_

"Ooooh well maybe she'll enjoy it more after having some eggnog."

"Unless it has a large dose of rum in it I doubt it."

The two looked to Fang and they couldn't help but to agree.

"Well she should be out soon. Maybe you should go rush her along Fang."

Serah pointed over her shoulder towards the room that was designated to her older sister. The brunette shrugged and headed past the kitchen and into the hallway.

Passing the kitchen, her dark eyes spotted Sazh pulling something out of the oven. "Did you use that recipe I gave you?"

"Oh yes ma'am! It smells mighty delicious too!"

The aroma filled the kitchen just as he grinned at her. "Hah I told ya!"

She winked at Dajh who giggled in his young innocence just as his father began to sing what sounded like Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Continuing on her journey, her eyes scanned along the walls to see numerous pictures of mainly Serah. There were only a few of former soldier with good reason too since the woman hated having her picture taken. Fang had figured this out whenever Vanille attempted to get a picture of the two of them together during a group outing. The woman was so persistent in looking away, and whenever they convinced her to finally look at the camera she would only have a scowl on her lips.

The one door that was sealed shut in the hallway was a clear giveaway that she had found the right room. Knocking on it a few times, she could hear shuffling of feet.

"Goddammit Serah, I'm almost-"

Blue eyes stared at dark ones in slight confusion before quickly shifting back to a normal gaze. A vibrant Christmas red covered the woman's chest as she stood in the doorway. Fang crossed her arms, tilted her head, and did a once over of the other woman.

"Nice colors Farron. Never expected you to wear something so...eye-catching."

Lightning scoffed, turning away to go back to her mirror for a second. The door was left open which Fang took as an invitation to come in.

"So, what other colors have you been hiding from us?"

"Oh enough. I did not buy this and it was certainly not my idea to wear it."

"True. You are quite the McScrooge when it comes to this sort of thing. Well actually to almost anything in general."

This made Lightning shoot a glare in the reflection of the mirror just as the taller woman shrugged. With a brush in hand, the frowning woman tried to brush out what tangles she could. It was at this time that dark eyes did more than just a once over. No, this time they were admiring the vision standing just a few feet away. The cloth of the red sweater ran just perfectly along the curve of the slender woman's sides. Clinging softly over her chest, it was hard not to notice the line of cleavage hidden beneath the fabric. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen Lightning in jeans either. Normally she was wearing some sort of sweat pants, or basically anything that would not come off as appealing.

"Almost done princess?"

"Fang if you don't shut up-"

"You'll glare me to death?"

As she set the hair brush down, her blue eyes looked over to see Fang now standing near her once again. "Come on lighten up. You look great."

This comment was unexpected and in turn caused the cold facade to vanish for only a second. A soft blush formed on the woman's light-colored cheeks just as she turned away to head for the door.

"Ahem thanks. Let's get this over with."

"Don't worry. We'll break out the egg nog."

Lightning raised an eyebrow at the other woman which just caused Fang to shrug. The shrug had just become her trademark move, even more so around Lightning. Turning off the light, they headed down the hallway towards the cheery atmosphere further ahead. Seeing the small group of friends talking lively amongst one another caused the blonde to inwardly sigh.

A soft whisper ran near her ear just before the taller woman wandered into the kitchen. "Be nice."

"Tch." With her arms crossed, her black, flat boots led her towards her sister who instantly lit up at seeing her.

"Oh Lightning that sweater looks so good on you!"

"Squeee yes it does! We definitely need to take you out shopping!"

Subconsciously the woman hit herself over the head. Glancing back towards the kitchen, she saw Fang watching the situation unfolding with a smirk on her face. She lifted her hand, ready to flick her middle finger up but her sister quickly caught the hand before the action could be carried out.

"Sis, can you and Hope set the plates and stuff please?"

As she inwardly swore to scratch, slap, or punch the brunette later, she simply nodded and headed towards the table.

"Hey Light."

"Hello Hope. Can you pass me some of those plates?"

The young man was one of the few people who had an effect on her. His presence made her calmer and helped to block out the Christmas nonsense taking up the other half of the room.

"You know it could be alot worse."

"Hm?" Lightning placed plates along the edge of the table before looking over at him.

"She could've put mistletoe up."

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew he was right. Of course, knowing her sister and her devious friend Vanille, it wouldn't surprise her if the two had managed to set one up where anyone would least expect it.

"True. But I wouldn't put it past them." As the two finished setting up the table, they stood still while gazing about as if to try and locate any mistletoe. While Lightning was focused on squinting to see in darker areas, Hope began to inch closer to her.

"Yeah...so anyways um...Merry Christmas!" The young man quickly hugged the woman whom he looked up to before dashing off to the other side of the room.

It took her a few seconds to register what had just happened and once she had, she couldn't help but to smile...to herself of course. Sensing someone staring at her, her gaze moved to see the tribal woman leaning on the bar with her dark eyes focused on her. For a moment she felt taken aback at having someone focus on her in such a way. There was something in her eyes, something that made her wonder. Why was it always her that she stared at? Why was she always the one who would say things with underlying messages?

She wanted to find out, and so she began to head towards the bar. Just as she was about to reach it, she was intercepted by Sazh.

"Time to eat!"

From the single second that she had glanced over at Sazh and back to the bar, the woman had moved. Sighing in slight frustration, she deemed it would have to be figured out at another time. Besides, the quicker she ate, the quicker they opened presents, and the quicker she could go back to her cave.

**x**

"I'm not sure you should open that here." Vanille had a suggestive look on her face just as Serah went to rip off the wrapping paper from her gift.

"Oh c'mon it can't be that-" The crumbling of the paper got louder and quickly stopped as the woman shoved the gift back into the box. "Eh heh...Hope it's your turn!"

The group sat on the living room floor which was littered with wrapping paper at this point. Dajh was contently eating a candy cane as Sazh was reading the instructions for his son's new toy. The engaged couple sat near the tree as Vanille was leaning against the bottom of the couch. Hope was directly to the right of Vanille who handed him his gift from 'Secret Santa' and he began to open it. That left Fang to be lounging with a single leg laid straight out and her other leg bent to allow her to rest her arm on her knee. The very last of the crew was sitting close to the corner, sipping on some special eggnog compliments of Sazh.

As the young man held up a new scarf, a smile appeared on his lips as he animatedly showed his approval of the gift. Lightning smiled as well, secretly knowing that it was her who gotten the gift for him. That was the only lucky thing about this evening, she had drawn Hope's name for 'Secret Santa'.

There were only a few presents left. The next one was announced to be Snow's. This was something she really didn't care to see especially since she knew it was her sister who had gotten her fiancee's name. And she swore it wasn't a rigged drawing. Rolling her eyes, Lightning stood up to head for the kitchen. She was going to need another refill of her drink if they were going to be going caroling after this.

Grabbing the bottle containing her gateway to sanity, she began to fill up her glass for the third time that evening. After replacing the cap, her hand numbly reached for the refrigerator door in the subtle darkness of the kitchen. When she turned to head back to the hell that was awaiting her, a low string of curses passed her lips.

"Dammit Fang watch it."

"Heh my bad. Thought I'd get in on some of that eggnog too."

Lightning leaned against the corner of the counter while watching the slightly taller woman go about getting herself a beverage. She heard the last name being called for a gift which was for Sazh. An inner confusion stirred within her. Perhaps no one thought it wise to get her a gift, especially since she usually would just throw out whatever was given to her. The dress and lingerie from the past few times were proof of that.

But even still, she couldn't help but admit deep down that it kind of hurt her. Of course, she probably wouldn't care after this next glass of eggnog. Speaking of which, she noticed the other woman looking at her once again. Through the darkness, it was still easy to pinpoint those dark eyes bearing into her own blue ones. A small sensation fluttered in her stomach and she looked away for a second. What the hell was wrong with her?

"So Farron, how cold do you think it is outside?"

"Not really sure why?"

"I think we should find out."

A look of confusion crossed the blonde's features and just before she had time to protest, her arm was latched onto by a tan hand and she was being dragged through the side door. Standing on a small porch, fragments of snow had managed to blow onto the wooden floorboards beneath of them.

"Fang what the hell is wrong with you? It's fucking cold."

The brunette woman took the cup that the protesting woman was holding and set it aside on the railing of the porch. Tugging the shorter woman near the railing, she then smirked smally and glanced upwards.

Lightning took this as a cue and glanced up as well. Sure enough, covered in a blanket of snow was a mistletoe hanging directly above them. You wouldn't be able to see it from first glance but...

"I knew it..!"

As the blonde realized her speculations of a hidden mistletoe from earlier were true, it slowly began to dawn on her what the present circumstances were.

"I don't really want bad karma so."

Without any forewarning, Fang placed her hands on the other woman's shoulders and leaned in before any protest could be made. As their lips touched, the coldness in the air seemed to disappear. Lightning stood for a second in utter shock but then when she felt that warmth enveloping her body, she finally let go and allowed herself to return the unexpected kiss. A few seconds later the brunette pulled back enough to let a low chuckle escape her lips.

"I'm your Secret Santa."

"You...you set this up?"

"Well...with some help from a few other people yeah."

Lightning glanced back towards the window to see the rest of the group huddled and watching the scene. Upon seeing they were discovered, Vanille squeaked and the others had an 'oh shit' look on their faces causing them to shuffle away back towards the living room. A blush was staining her cheeks which was hidden from the cold air that had been hitting her face since she had been dragged outside. As she looked up to Fang once again, the woman simply shrugged.

"Do you like your gift?"

The question posed to her made her think for a moment before smiling the rarest of smiles. "I think I'll let you decide that for yourself."

It was then Lightning leaned up to kiss the woman standing beneath the mistletoe.

Perhaps it was the eggnog, but inwardly she knew it was Fang who had managed to take over her senses and her heart.


End file.
